Sounds like Rush was one of those risk takers and visionaries. These sorts of people hold themselves up as beacons of light and others do too until the risk taking catches up.

I remember I had a boss that liked some book they read about one of these sorts of people. My boss even had the company buy each of us a copy to read. I skipped it. What I remember though was the the guy died while doing one of their risky things maybe 6 months later. Just thought it was classic. Guy held up as an example by people in authority shows how stupid those people are by getting himself killed.